1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prefabricated vol-oxidizer for spent nuclear fuel, enabling convenient operation and maintenance thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nuclear fuel is a substance capable of extracting a usable energy by continuously causing nuclear fission by being fed in a nuclear reactor. Spent nuclear fuel refers to a used substance remaining after the nuclear fission.
Such spent nuclear fuel may be managed generally by two methods. One method is to thoroughly isolate the spent nuclear fuel from the human ecosystem by burying the spent nuclear fuel in a rock bed lying at about 500 m or more underground, which is called permanent disposal. The other method is to reuse the nuclear fuel by extracting a recyclable substance from the spent nuclear fuel while permanently disposing of high-level radioactive substances.
According to those conventional methods, a spent nuclear fuel assembly combusted in a nuclear power plant is no longer processed and stored in a water reservoir. However, as a driving time of the nuclear power plant increases, quantity of used nuclear fuel rods gradually increases, consequently requiring a great storage space. Furthermore, risk and necessity for proper disposal of the accumulated nuclear waste are continuously raised as issues.
Accordingly, there is a desire for a new scheme and method for managing and recycling spent nuclear fuel in a solid state. In this regard, an apparatus for partial processing that pulverizes and oxidizes the spent nuclear fuel for a following process has been developed.